Re: Iridium 12 flare ...
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:47:38 -0400
I must correct my report of the monster Iridium flare Monday night. (Or
was it a "humongous" flare...?) I guess I was suffering from the effects
of Iridiation. Mike M. kindly pointed out to me that the Sun does not set
in the East....
Moral: Never assume anything! It turns out that Home Planet measures azimuth
from the South:
> Azimuth: Local compass point at the observing site above which
> the object appears. Astronomers measure azimuth from the South
> (consistent with the convention for hour angle), with positive
> angles toward the West and negative angles toward the East.
So the Sun's azimuth was 282 (102+180), not 102. Here's the corrected report:
NORAD date time Dir aI eI aM eM aS eS Phs Dur Mag Obs COSPAR
24837 97-09-23 01:58:50 S 131 48 084 57 282 -21 145 02 -6 EdC 97030B
Ed Cannon
ecannon@mail.utexas.edu
Austin, Texas, USA
Observations and report from UT location: 30.29N, 97.74W, 165m